Brisbane fine diner Bacchus to reopen after two-year closure

After closing at the start of the pandemic, this award-winning fine diner is set to reopen, serving up everything from foie gras to caviar.

After a two-year hiatus, revered Brisbane fine diner Bacchus at South Brisbane is finally set to reopen its doors.

The signature restaurant at Rydges South Bank closed at the beginning of Covid in March 2020 when the hotel transformed into quarantine accommodation, and continued to operate as such until January this year.

With hotel quarantine now over, the gourmet dining room is preparing for relaunch with a new look and new chefs.

Former Bacchus sous chef Isaia Dal Fiume has now stepped up to run the kitchen, with ex-head chef Massimo Speroni moving interstate to open the hotel chain’s new QT Newcastle restaurant. While Matthew Wood (ex-Stokehouse Brisbane and Hilton Brisbane) is executive chef for Rydges South Bank.

Chef Isaia Dal Fiume at Bacchus Restaurant, South Bank, which is set to reopen after a two-year hiatus. Picture: J&A Photography

The Michelin-trained Dal Fiume has spent the past few months preparing a new a la carte menu for the European fine diner, continuing on from its previous format of heroing the best local produce from across Queensland, as well as the finest ingredients from around the world such as truffle, foie gras and caviar.

After two years of cooking quarantine food, the chef said he could not wait to be back preparing the lavish cuisine the restaurant is known for.

“I’m really excited to come back and I’m the most excited to welcome guests to our restaurants and please the guests with our food and service,” he said.

That may mean entrees such as coral trout sashimi with gazpacho or champagne lobster with macadamias, or mains such as Patagonian toothfish with celeriac textures or Stanbroke 9-plus scotch fillet wagyu with ­carrots and white balsamic gel.

Seven-course degustations, including a vegan option, and the restaurant’s famous high teas will also make a comeback.

Wood said the wine list would return even bigger and better, with more than 600 bottles and an incredible 47 by the glass.

“It’s that same dedication to sourcing a wide-ranging list from all over the world … with wines under Coravin and a really interesting by-the-glass list that will be rotating through,” Wood said.

The vino will be able to be enjoyed in the restaurant’s wine bar, or the main dining room, which has just undergone a refresh with new furniture, a new colour palate of deep mahogany, tobacco and teal, and new bespoke decorative elements.

The new-look Bacchus is set to open to the public on May 20.